Ionesco and Absurd

The first piece of Ionesco, La Cantatrice chauve (The Bald Soprano), first performed in France in 1950, puzzled conservative critics. The following plays are no more successful. The lack of plot, the degradation of language, seen first as provocations, made little by little Ionesco's reputation as an author of avant-garde. The recognition came in 1960 when Jean-Louis Barrault performed Rhinocéros (Rhinoceros) at The Odeon theatre. Béranger, the protagonist is a metaphoric double of the author and first appears in Tueurs sans gages (The Killer) in 1959 and then in Le Roi se meurt (Exit the King) in 1962. With La Soif et la faim (Hunger and Thirst), first performed in 1965 at the Comédie-Française, Ionesco followed his analysis of major metaphysical themes. In this short piece in three episodes, the author describes the religion as an expression of conformism, of the alienation of idealism to the establishment.
To understand Ionesco's work, one must delve into Notes et contre-notes (Notes and Counter Notes), book published in 1962, in which the author talks about the foundation and thrust of his theatre of the Absurd:
"I never understood, for my part, the difference made between comic and tragic. Comic being the intuition of the absurd, it seems more hopeless than tragic. Comic offers no exit. "

Copies that the library offers of La Faim et la Soif and Notes et contre-notes, are dedicated to the painter Byzantios and his wife. Ionesco prefaced two exhibitions - in 1962 and 1972 - of this Greek artist whom he defended the pictorial universe that he described as spiritual.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers first editions of Ionesco :

• Notes et contre-notes. Paris, Gallimard, collection « Pratique du Théâtre », 1962, in-8. First edition dedicated by the author to Denise Byzantios, wife of the painter.
• La Photo du Colonel. Paris, Gallimard, 1962, in-12. First edition dedicated to Madame Andrée Hubert Martin.
• La Soif et la faim. Paris, N.R.F., 1965, in-8. First edition of this rare book. Copy dedicated to the painter Byzantios.
• Présent Passé Passé Présent. Paris, Mercure de France, 1968, in-8. First edition. One of the 60 copies on vellum paper.
• Découvertes. Illustrations by the author. Genève, Albert Skira, collection « Les sentiers de la Création », 1969, in-8, publisher's binding. First edition with black and white illustrations by Ionesco.

Sandra Aftalion's bookbindings

After studying at the Ecole du Louvre, Sandra Aftalion spends six years at the Ateliers d'Art Appliqués of Vésinet (AAAV), where she learns techniques of bookbinding. She completes her training by taking courses in gilding with Alain Coutret and specializes in the art of marquetry.
Wood bindings are the trademark of Sandra Aftalion. Her work with transparency effects is unique. She superimposes layers of various sanded precious woods which are mixed with natural inks to create a modern and delicate binding.

Currently, find a selection of Sandra Aftalion's bindings on display at the library Loliée.

See the website of Sandra Aftalion.

Quiet Days in Clichy with Henry Miller

Quiet Days in Clichy, published in 1956, is a promenade in the heart of Parisian nights during the Roaring Twenties. In this autobiographical novel, Henry Miller recounts his life with his roommate Carl and refers to his women's conquests. One can recognize, in this story, the tone of the author, between modesty of feelings and raw language, which earned him to provoke huge critics. The good contrast of Brassaï's photographs which illustrate the first edition, perfectly echo with the world of Miller.
The story was twice adapted in films : in 1970, under the direction of the artist Jens Jørgen Thorsen, who leans on the text to refer to the sexual freedom of the post-68 years, and in 1990 by Claude Chabrol who focuses on the autobiographical dimension.

"I had no particular desire to go anywhere. I strolled over to the Etoile, which was only a few blocks away, and then instinctively headed down the Champs-Elysées in the direction of the Tuileries, thinking to stop somewhere along the line and have a black coffee. I felt mellow, expansive and at peace with the world."

Henri Miller - extrait de Quiet days in Clichy.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Miller (Henri). Quiet Days In Clichy. Photographs by Brassaï. Paris, The Olympia Press, 1956, in-12. First edition.
  

The narrative poetry of Robert Desnos

Robert Desnos joins André Breton in the early Surrealism and became one of the key members of the movement. He tells his dreams, writes and draws in a state of trance. He uses his technique to express the spontaneity of his inspiration. He feels quickly shut by the doctrine of Breton and left the group in 1930. His style became less eccentric. Desnos develops then a poetry closer to the harsh reality marked by the Second World War. From this period dates Etat de veille (literally "standby state"), which reflects this form of narrative poetry specific to Desnos.

"Poser sa tête sur on oreiller
Et sur cet oreiller dormir
et dormant rêver
A des choses curieuses ou d'avenir,

Rêvant croire à ce qu'on rêve
Et rêvant garder la notion
De la vie qui passe sans trêve
Du soir à l'aube sans rémission.

Ceci est presque normal,
ceci est presque délicieux
Mais je plains ceux,
Qui dorment vite et mal,

Et, mal éveillés, rêvent en marchant.

Ainsi j'ai marché autrefois,
J'ai marché, agi en rêvant,
Prenant les rues pour les allées d'un bois.

Une place pour les rêves
Mais les rêves à leur place."

Rêves - in Etat de veille - 1944

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers first editions of Robert Desnos :

• Deuil pour deuil. Paris, Editions du Sagittaire, les Cahiers Nouveaux, 1924, in-16. Copy on Rives paper.
• Corps et Biens. Paris, N.R.F., 1930, in-8. One of the 109 first copies on Lafuma paper.
• Etat de Veille. 10 gravures au burin par Gaston-Louis Rond. Paris, Pour mes Amis, 1943, in-4, en feuilles, chemise. 10 full page original engravings by Gaston-Louis Rond. One of the 20 copies on Arches paper including one original drawing, 1 suite of the engravings on China paper and 5 refused engravings.
• Mines de rien. Paris, Broder, 1957, in-12, in leaves, publisher's case. 4 full page originals engravings in color by André Masson. Limited to 130 copies on Rives signed by the illustrator.
  
• Mines de rien. Paris, Broder, 1957, in-12, beautiful binding by Semet et Plumelle. 4 full page originals engravings in color by André Masson. Limited to 130 copies on Rives signed by the illustrator. Un des 10 copies not mentionned in the limited edition, including a suite in black of the engravings, each engraving justified an dsigned by Masson.

Poems by Debordes-Valmore

In the 19th century, poetry is a genre reserved for men and few women publish under their real name. The best known of them, Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786-1859) is a self-taught. Coming from the petty bourgeoisie ruined by the Revolution, the young woman survived becoming an actress and an opera singer. After a failed marriage and the death of her first son, she married actor Prosper Lachantin, said Valmore, with whom she has three children. She published, in 1819, a first collection, Elégies, Marie et Romances. The poetess, then, never stopped writing and put an end to her theatrical career in 1823. She quickly earned the admiration of his peers including Balzac, Victor Hugo and Sainte-Beuve. Her inventiveness, which dusts off the conventionel meter, greatly influenced Verlaine.

(sources : wikipédia, Larousse).

"Quand je t'écris à l'ombre du mystère,
Je crois te voir et te parler tout bas;
Mais, je l'avoue, en ce lieu solitaire,
tout est tranquille, et mon cœur ne l'est pas,
Quand je t'écris.

En vain j'écris : quand l'âme est oppressée,
Le temps s'arrête; il n'a plus d'avenir.
Non, loin de toi, je n'ai qu'une pensée,
et mon bonheur n'est plus qu'un souvenir :
En vain j'écris.

Je n'ai plus d'espérance :
Mais je ne voudrais pas, pour tout mon avenir,
perdre le souvenir! "

Le Billet - in Poésies, Boulard, 1830

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Desbordes-Valmore (Marceline). Poésies. Paris, A. Boulard, 1830, 2 volumes in-8, binding by Mercier. First general edition, with vignettes from Deveria, Henri Monnier, Tony Johannot and Pujol. One of the few copies on thin vellum paper including 4 plates figures in 3 conditions,and the engraving on vellum paper. Joined : two handwritten paper sheets of Desbordes-Valmore (the fist one, a poem and the second, a letter regarding her daughter Ondine).
  

Max Bucaille's daydreamings

At first mathematician, Max Bucaille (1906-1992) joined the surrealist group in 1947. Collagist and poet often overshadowed by Max Ernst, he built a major work. In The Dream Scanner, one of his better knowns books published by G.L.M. in 1950, the poet Jean Laude, writer of the preface, presents the work of the artist:
"Max Bucaille, since it's him we speak about, takes a pair of scissors and glue. He takes old illustrated books and, for our pleasure, daydreams. [...] Who will watch, who will dreams of these images, will maybe better supported in the real world those objects that are composed here. "

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Bucaille (Max). Le Scaphandrier des Rêves. Preface by J. Laude. Paris, GLM, 1950, in-12. First edition with 13 collages, with the cover, by the artist. Limited to 500 copies on vellum paper.
• Bucaille (Max). Entre le Sommeil et le noir. Paris, Le Nyctalope, 1982, thin in-12, brochée. First edition with 7 collages, by the artist. Limited to 333 copies on Arches paper.
  

The eluvise Alastair

Alastair - artist name mentioned for the first time in 1907 - is the pseudonym of Baron Hans Henning von Voigt (1887-1969), son of a Prussian lieutenant general. Elusive figure, Alastair spent his youth travelling to major European capitals and New York. Self-taught, he earned his living as a dancer, pianist and draughtsman. This last talent gave him notoriety. He exhibited his first works in 1910, in Cologne and Düsseldolf. During World War I, he took refuge in Switzerland and, once the conflict ended, resumed his frantic pace of life. The inter war period is his most productive. He illustrated Wilde, Barbey d'Aurevilly. His style is marked by a predilection for eroticism and baroque and influenced by Aubrey Beardsley. In 1928, when he works on Manon Lescaut for the English publisher John Lane (who has collaborated with Bearsdley), Alastair gives a supernatural and quite surprising tone to the story.

Currently, the librairie loliée offers :

• Alastair – Prévost (l’abbé). Manon Lescaut. Translated from the french the abbé Prévost by D.C. Moylan with eleven illustrations by Alastair and an introduction by Arthur Symons. London, John Lane the Bodley Head ltd, 1928, in-4, publisher binding. 11 original full-page compositions by Alastair. Tirage Deluxe edition limited to 1850 copies.

André Pieyre de Mandiargues

André Pieyre de Mandiargues left a rich and varied work : poems, short stories, novels, plays, essays, interviews, but also prefaces and translations of his friends works. After the publication of his novel La Motyclette and the Prix Goncourt for La Marge in 1967, Mandiargues reached at last notoriety. His fictional universe combines a discrete lyricism with an erotic and baroque imagination, particularly influenced by the reading of German romantics and Elizabethan poetry. Close to surrealists, Mandiargues joined the group after his encounter with André Breton in 1947. However, he maintained a distance with the movement, and always kept a precious and sometimes affected writing which defines his distinguished style.



Currently, the librairie Loliée offers as first editions of André Pieyre de Mandiargues :

• Les Incongruités Monumentales. Paris, Robert Laffont, 1948, in-4. Copie on Alfa paper.
• Soleil des Loups. Paris, Robert Laffont, 1951, in-12. One of the 30 copies on Corvol paper.
• Le Lis de Mer. Paris, Laffont, 1956, in-12, box binding by Honnelaitre. One of the 30 copies on Corvol paper.
• Feu de Braise. Paris, Bernard Grasset, 1959, large in-12. One of the 52 first copies on Montval paper.
• La Marge. Paris, N.R.F., 1967, in-8, binding by M. de Bellefroid. One of the first 40 copies on Holland paper . Prix Goncourt 1967.
• Mascarets. Paris, Gallimard, 1971, in-8. One of the first 42 copies on Holland paper.

Lucien Clergue - New York stripes

Lucien Clergue - Zébrées
5 original photographs taken in New York in 1998

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Clergue (Lucien). Zébrées. Poèmes et photographies par Lucien Clergue. S.l., Le Renard Pâle, collection « Art en Mécénie », 2006, plexiglas case. First edition with 5 original photographs Limited to 28 copies on Rives paper numebred and signed by the artist.
  

Primitive Art according to Wifredo Lam

Cuban painter, born of a Chinese father and a mulatto mother, Wifredo Lam went to Fine Arts School in Havana and then moved to Barcelona to continue his studies. Running away from the Spanish Civil War, he sought refuge in Paris in 1937. Picasso took him under his wing and had him meet with the Surrealists. Lam joined the movement and André Breton offered him to illustrate his poetic collection Fata Morgana. In 1940, Lam went to Marseille where he obtained a visa to leave for Cuba. He took the plane with a few friends, including Breton and Ernst, and eventually landed in his native land. In 1942, the Matisse Gallery in New York organized the first exhibition of his works. Where Picasso and his contemporaries promote African Art as a new approach to European pictorial tradition, Wifredo Lam, in the other way, influenced by great masters - including Bosch and Goya, uses his mixed race heritage to create a primitive word more universal.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Lam (Wifredo) - Jouffroy (Alain). L’Antichambre de la nature. Eaux-fortes originales de Wifredo Lam. Paris, Collection Paroles Peintes, Odette Lazar-Vernet, 1966, folio, loose as issued in the original wrappers. First edition with 9 original etchings by Wifredo Lam. Limited to 85 copies. One of the 50 copies on B.F.K Rives paper, signed by the author and the artist.

Krapp's Last Tape

Krapp's Last Tape (in French, La Dernière Bande) is a monologue primarily written in 1958 for the English radio. Samuel Beckett finally adapts the text to the theater in addition to Endgame played at the Royal Court Theatre of London. The role was created by Patrick Magee, Irish actor for who Beckett imagined the text. In a room occupied by a single table and dusty archives, Krapp, an old and shabby intellectual, records on an antique tape recorder his comments on the past year. He listens to the sound of his own voice and makes a bitter analysis of his vanished existence. Beckett riddles the text with stage indications, specifies the intonation of the voice, indicates the rythme of the delivery in order to create the space in which fits Krapp's memories.
A few months after the first production in London, Beckett translated in French this "monodrama" with the help of Pierre Leyris. It was not until 1960 that the piece is created by Roger Blin at the Récamier theatre in its French version.


Now a classic, Krapp's Last Tape is one of the great dramatic texts by Beckett. Many artists have tried to interpret the figure of Krapp: in 2000 John Hurt in the Atom Egoyan's film adaptation or in 2006, Harold Pinter who, to celebrate the 50th season anniversary of the Royal Court Theatre, took over the role.
(source : Wikipedia).

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers Samuel Beckett's french first editions :

• La Dernière Bande. Traduit de l’anglais par Pierre Leyris et l’auteur. Paris, Éditions de Minuit, 1959, in-12. Limited to 47 copies on Marais vellum paper. Complete of the errata folio.
• Tous Ceux qui tombent. Pièce radiophonique traduit de l’anglais Robert Pinget. Paris, Editions de Minuit, 1957, in-12. Limited to 80 copies on Marais vellum paper.
• Bing. Paris, Éditions de Minuit, 1966, in-12. Copy on BFK vellum paper.
• Sans. Paris, Éditions de Minuit, 1969, in-12. Limited to 742 copies on Rives vellum paper.
• Berceuse suivi de Impromptu d’Ohio. Traduits de l’anglais par l’auteur. Paris, Éditions de Minuit, 1982, in-16. Limited to 99 copies on Arches vellum paper.
  
• Pour en finir encore. Paris, Éditions de Minuit, 1976, in-12, grey bradel (Mouillac). Copy on Arches Vullum paper.
  

Small and Large Drinks

"As for France, it seems that the cocktail made its first appearance with the Anglo-American bars shortly after the exhibition of 1889. Column talks about it and newspapers are aware of it. Alphonse Allais is prompt to stuff his tales with those new beverage names which have then all the flavour of novelty : Sherry Cobbler, Mint Julep, pick-me-up, prairie oyster, etc. "

Petits et Grands Verres (Small and Large drinks), published in 1927, offers a choice of the best cocktail recipes, sometimes with fanciful names which titillate imagination and taste buds. The 10 engravings by Jean-Emile Laboureur, who illustrates the book, highlight the delicate etiquette of the manners at the time.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Laboureur (J.-E.). Petits et Grands Verres. Choix des meilleurs cocktails. Recueillis par Nina Toye et A.-H. Adair et mis en français par Ph. Le Huby. 10 gravures de J.-E. Laboureur. Paris, Au Sans Pareil, 1927, in-4. 10 original and full-page ethcings by Laboureur. Limited to 270 copies, this one on vellum paper.
  

Charles Bovary and Flaubert savoir-faire

The first Madame Bovary that we discover in the famous novel written by Gustave Flaubert is not necessarily the one we think about. The story opens with a sketch taken place in a provincial school : "the new fellow", a shy and meticulous boy does not dare throwing on the floor, like his schoolmates, the new and ridiculously pedantic cap his mother makes him wear. In one chapter, Flaubert tells how a relentless maternal love brings Charles, future husband of Emma, to surpass his mediocrity in order to reach an acceptable social status. Madame Bovary wants her son to become a doctor. The young man moves in town to study and is stunned by the list of disciplines he must follows. "He understood nothing of it all ; it was all very well to listen he did not follow. Still he worked, he had bound note-books, he attended all the courses, never missed a single lecture. He did his little daily task like a mill-horse, who goes round and round with his eyes bandaged, not knowing what work he is doing. " In this quote, we can sense Flaubert savoir-faire, the syntax made of simple and acurate sentences which build up to conclude on an obvious and almost cruel metaphor.

One night, Charles, now a rural doctor, is called to treat a fracture, by chance, "simple". He meets Emma and his father, injured. Young widow of an unhappy first marriage, Charles falls in love with Emma. It is through his eyes that we see for the first time this young and pale woman with a look "that came at you frankly, with a candid boldness." After a court whose romantic dimension seduces Emma but reflects mostly Charles clumsiness and inexperience, a marriage is quickly settled. As a happy man, Mr. Bovary becomes puffy, lost in a comfortable routine ; regarding Madam ... after only fifty pages, the issue comes as a bolt from the blue : "Before marriage, she [Emma] thought herself in love ; but the happiness that should have followed this love not having come, she must, she thought, have been mistaken. And Emma tried to find out what one meant exactly in life by the words felicity, passion, rapture, that had seemed to her so beautiful in books. "

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Flaubert (Gustave). Madame Bovary. Mœurs de province. Paris, Michel Lévy Frères, 1857, 2 volumes bound in one, in-12, full red levant, original covers preserved, case (Chambolle-Duru). First edition.

When Louis Legrand illustrates Edgar Poë

Bank employee, Louis Legrand takes night classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts of Dijon. It is then with Félicien Rops that he learns the techniques of printmaking. He becomes famous by working as a cartoonist for the periodical Le Courrier Français. His dark and macabre vision of Paris nights causes him to be charged for obscenity and briefly imprisoned in 1891. Legrand then turns to more soft subjects and participates in Gil Blas, an illustrated periodical which makes sales records. His engravings on dance classes are reprinted, the following year, by E. Dentu, under the title Cours de danse fin de siècle. Legrand continues to describe this art with Les Petits du Ballet published in 1893 by Gustave Pellet. This is the beginning of a long collaboration with the editor who published thereafter among the most beautiful works of Toulouse-Lautrec, a master who outshined Legrand yet his predecessor.
In his study of the work of the painter, published also by Pellet, Camille Mauclair focuses on the illustrations made for Quinze Histoires d'Edgard Poe and adds :
"Those fifteen plates are little known and not often reproduced. They deserve yet to be widely shared, not only because of their beauty, but because they are so far the only illustrations work that someone dared try of these terrible masterpiece. "

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Legrand (Louis) - [Baudelaire (Charles)]. Quinze Histoires d'Edgar Poë. Illustrations de Louis Legrand. Paris, imprimé pour les Amis du Livre, Chaumerot et Renouard, 1897, in-4, binding in full black levant (Chambolle-Duru). Edition illustrated with 15 full-page original etchings, in two state, on Japan paper, et with 30 in-text drawings.
• Legrand (Louis) – Ramiro (Erasthène). Faune Parisienne. Paris, Gustave Pellet Éditeur, 1901, in-4, binding full brown levant (Canape). First edition illustrated with 19 original etchings by Louis Legrand, including the cover. Limited to 130 copies. This one with a second state, in black of the etchings et with two original drawings enhanced with watercolors.
• [Legrand (Louis)] - Mauclair (Camille). Louis Legrand, peintre et graveur. Paris, H. Floury et G. Pellet, 1910, petit in-4. Important study with many illustrations.

Braque,The Boss

Braque, Le Patron (Braque, the boss) is a reference book on the work of the painter. Jean Paulhan, in nine parts, builds the portrait of the artist : "He is a little stooped. He works on ten drafts in the same time, some are resting on easels, others land on some sort of grils. He moves sometimes a leaf, a leg crab, a lizard skeleton, which are waiting for what on the table ? He is retouching. He is pruning. As a gardener among his plants. "

The writer also relates "The Myths of Georges Braque", a tasty compilation of anecdotes :
"Understand me, said Vollard, I am worried. If my Renoir burns and remains a small corner, I always know it's a Renoir. But if my Braque ... - Thanks to God, "said Braque. Who gave up that day to sign his paintings. "

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Braque (Georges) - Paulhan (Jean). Braque, le Patron. Paris, Geneva, Editions des Trois Collines, 1947, in-4, shirt and case. Edition illustrated with 64 reproductions of paintings and 2 lithographs by Georges Braque. Limited to 90 copies signed by the author and the painter. One of the first 25 copies on Arches paper, including the original color lithograph signed and numbered by Georges Braque.
• Braque (Georges) - Saint-Pol-Roux. Août. Paris, Louis Broder, 1958, in-4 oblong, sheets, under cover, case. First edition decorated with 4 original full-page etchings, including 2 in colors, by Georges Braque. Limited to 120 copies on Auvergne paper signed by Braque.

Les Amies by Verlaine illustrated by Buchet

Les Amies (girl friends), early work in which Verlaine praises sapphic love, known a rather chaotic publication. First edited to 50 copies under the pseudonym of Pablo-Maria de Herlañes, the collection is censored and all the issues are destroyed. The six sonnets are again published, in 1881, in La Revue Indépendante (The Independent Journal) and finally resumed, in 1889, in Parralèlement (text in french here). It is in this collection that are also the six poems Filles (Girls) who address the theme of brothel.

Because of their erotic and sulphurous dimension, Those poems have been illustrated many times (Bonnard, Bécat, Daragnès ...) The contribution of Gustave Buchet is from the Art Deco period. The Swiss painter has flirted with major artistic movements of his time : Dada, Futurism, Cubism then Purism that leads him to abstraction. This is the line which makes the interest of the etchings that Buchet composes for Les Amies and Filles. The harmony of sober colors invites the gaze to land on the forms. The bodies are all in accurate and fine curves. The style is simple, elegant.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• [Buchet (Gustave)] – Verlaine (Paul). Les Amies. Filles. Treize pointes sèches rehaussées de couleur et cul-de-lampe par Gustave Buchet. Paris, Le Livre, 1913, in-4, binding by Martine Roy. Edition illustrated with 13 hand color-washed etchings.

Debussy - Toulet : a lasting friendship

Paul-Jean Toulet and Claude Debussy met at the Café Weber, rue Royale in Paris. Toulet loved encouters with "my brother the whiskey and my friend the night." Debussy, who was not an easy friend to gain, quickly liked the poet. The two men planned to adapt for the opera As You Like It by Shakeaspeare. Their personal correspondence, first published in 1929, spreads over 16 years and closes up on Debussy's death. The letters testify the affinities that bind the writer and the composer : a love for arts and a taste for hyperbole. The two men speak about their Shakespeare's project that will ultimately not be done, about their social activities and artistic meetings. They are thoughtful to one another without dwelling on their respective diseases. In the last year, it is mainly wifes who discuss the health of their husbands. "Friends, charities, virtuosos, parents took all of us... I saw however a nice and intelligent doctor to make some essential injections to the Master, who is a little depressed ... " Emma Claude Debussy wrote to Madam Toulet.

Debussy died in 1918. Toulet, sick of too much alcohol and opium, succumbed two years later. With his Contrerimes, which are beginning to be published in 1910 and whose final edition will be released in 1921, Toulet is recognized as an important poet and appointed as head of the ecole fantaisiste (The Fantasy School).

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Toulet (Paul-Jean). Correspondance de Claude Debussy et P.J. Toulet. Paris, Le Divan, 1929, binding by Huser. First Edition. One of the 15 first copies on Japan paper.
  
• Toulet (Paul-Jean) . Les Contrerimes. Paris, Edition du Divan et Emile Paul, 1921, pfull binding by Huser. First edition. One of the first 20 copies on China paper.
  

Ode to New York

"All your muscles are tensed
New York victorious
centuries of smoke
and here before you
as distant lonely clouds
stand your destiny
which is like the hesitation on the edge of a precipice
like gap that separates night of morning
doubt that nothing calms
like fire raising
like silent and hope and madness "
Extract from the book of poems Odes by Philippe Soupault - photo Keystone from the same book

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Soupault (Philippe). Odes. Paris, Pierre Seghers, 1946, in-4, illustrated cover. First edition with illsutrated with various pictures. Copie on vellum paper.
  
• Soupault (Philippe). Le Grand Homme. Novel. Paris, Charlot, 1947. First edition. Frontispiece by André Masson.

Ulysses illustrated by Gaston de Latenay

Painter, engraver and watercolorist, Gaston de Latenay (1859 - 1943), born in Toulouse, studied briefly at the Academie Julian, in Paris. Mostly self-taught, he stood apart from artistic movements and schools to develop his own poetic vision of nature. He combined japanese influences with a lyricism closed from the Nabis. Nausikaa - book sixth of the Odyssey and longest stop of Ulysses - makes the transition from Symbolism to Art Nouveau, and is notable both for the organization of compositions inspired by the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites and the subtle colors used for litographs.
(source: www.artoftheprint.com)

Currently, La Library Loliée offers :

• Latenay (Gaston de) - [Homer]. Nausikaa. Translated by Leconte de Lisle. Decorative compositions by Gaston de Latenay. Paris, Piazza, 1889, in-4, illustrated cover, case. Each page is illustrated with color compositions by Latenay. Limited to 400 copies. One of 25 copies on Arches paper enriched with a suite in black on China paper.

Fortune's surprises

"During the "initiation" of a series of lithographs in color, my friend Pierre Chave, experienced lithographer, discovered by chance, the brightness due to the fortuitous compositions.

The process is simple: instead of throwing in the garbage the tests obtained by the successive and random overlays , make the effort - or take delight in - and look closely (or afar). Let freely go the games of your imagination. Rejoice with the suddenness of your mental and sensual associations, of harmonies and dissonances of color that fortune chooses and lays by for you.

Show results to your friends - and even your enemies. Observe their reactions. Continue tomorrow. You will not be disappointed. "

Max Ernst - preface to the catalog of the gallery Alphonse Chave

Currently, the Librairie Loliée offers :

• [Ernst (Max)]. Livres et publications surréalistes. Paris, José Corti, 1932, plaquette in-12. Firts edition of this catalogue of José Corti Bookshop. On the cover, an original drawing by Max Ernst.
• Ernst (Max) - Carrington (Leonora). La Dame ovale. Avec 7 collages par Marx Ernst. Paris, G.L.M., 1939, in-12. First Edition with 7 full-page illustrations by Max Ernst. Copy on vellum paper.
  
• Ernst (Max) - Peret (Benjamin). La Brebis galante. Paris, Editions Premières, 1949, in-4, illustrated cover. First edition with 3 original engravings in color by Max Ernst. Limited edition to 321 copies, this one on Arches vellum paper.
• Ernst (Max) – Breton (André) - Peret (Benjamin). Almanach Surréaliste du Demi-Siècle. La Nef, numéro spécial, 63/64, Paris Sagittaire, Mars-Avril, 1950, in-8, illustrated cover. One of the 65 copies on Lafuma vellum paper, with 2 original lithographs in color, full-page, signed by Max Ernst and by André Breton.
• [Ernst (Benjamin)] – Peret (Benjamin). Mort aux vaches et au champ d’honneur. S.l. (Paris), Arcanes, 1954, grand in-4. First edition. One of the 54 first copies on Arches vellum paper, with as a frontispiece, an original engraving in color signed by Max Ernst. Copie of the author.
• Ernst (Max). Ecritures. Avec cent vingt illustrations extraites de l’œuvre de l’auteur. Paris, N.R.F Point du Jour, 1970, fort in-8, illustrated cover. First collective edition.
  
• Ernst (Max). Catalogue de la Galerie Alphonse Chave. Vence, du 13 février au 12 mars 1971, petit in-4, en feuilles, illustrated cover. Preface by Max Ernst. Original lithograph in color on the cover and 12 illustrations in color. Limited edition to 1000 copies. One of the first 90 copies with an orignal and signed lithograph, in color, on Japan paper, by Max Ernst. Enhanced with an autograph of the artist.
  
• Ernst (Max). Lieux communs. Décervelages. S.l. [Milan], A. Iolas, 1971, brochure in-8. This booklet was print for the Max Ernst's exhibition « Lieux communs » at the gallery Alexandre Iolas in Paris. Limited edition to 1000 copies.

Degas illustrator

Towards 1878-1879, Edgar Degas initiates a series of pastels to illustrate La Maison Tellier, a short story by his contemporary Guy de Maupassant. The painter was seduced by this realistic tale, in which the author refers to the theme of prostitution. The two men met in the literary salons of the capital, including the one of Ludovic Halévy. Degas also began to sketch the characters of the Cardinal family, symbol of the petty and pedantic bourgeoisie of Paris, created by Halévy in two short stories, Monsieur et Madame Cardinal and their wishful dancers daughters Les Petites Cardinal. But Halévy, future member of the French Academy, did not like the realistic style of the painter who put back his monotypes in a drawings cardboard. It was not until 1928 that the illustrations reappeared during an art auction. In 1939, the bookseller Auguste Blaizot finally published the collection in collaboration with Maurice Potin. It is this same engraver that was chosen by the Vollard Editions to work in 1934 on the publication of La Maison Tellier. This late publication was due to Ambroise Vollard who wanted first to issue the pastels without the text. (source : wikipedia.fr)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Degas (Edgar) - Maupassant (Guy de). La Maison Tellier. Paris, A. Vollard, 1934, in-8, full Levant binding by Lucie Weill. 19 full-page copper platings and 17 wood engravings based on the original compositions in black and in colors by Edgar Degas. Limited edition to 325 copies.
• Degas (Edgar) - Maupassant (Guy de). La Maison Tellier. Paris, A. Vollard, 1934, in-8. 19 full-page copper platings and 17 wood engravings based on the original compositions in black and in colors eby Edgar Degas. Limited edition to 325 copies.
• Degas (Edgar) - Halévy (Ludovic). La Famille Cardinal. Paris, Blaizot, 1939, in-4, full Levant binding by Maylander. 32 full-page monotypes (7 in couleurs). Limited edition to 325 copies.

Le Clézio : A Nobel recognition

J.MG. Le Clézio is only 23 years old when he is revealed and rewarded for Le Procès-verbal (The Deposition), his first book, which won the Renaudot Prize in 1963. Since, the author has published about fifty titles - novels, stories, essays. A classic style, quietly innovative, an humanistic dimension of the subjects the author chooses seduce his contemporaries. The jury of the Nobel Foundation plebiscites with the Prize in Literature this "writer of rupture, of poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy. "

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers in first editions :

• Le Procès-verbal. Paris, Gallimard, 1963, in-12. Edition reserved to the press. These copy enhanced by a dedication of the author.
• Le Déluge. Roman. Paris, Gallimard, 1966, in-8. One of the 85 copies on Lafuma-Navarre vellum paper.
• Trois Villes Saintes. Paris, N.R.F., 1980, in-8, 1980. One of the 25 first copies on Dutch paper.
• Printemps et autres saisons. Nouvelles. Paris, Gallimard, collection « Le Chemin », 1989, in-8, bounded (D.H. Mercher). One of the 45 first copies on Dutch paper . These copy enhanced by a dedication of the author.
• Pawana. Paris, N.R.F., 1992, in-8. One of the 60 first copies on Dutch paper.
• Cœur Brûle et autres romances. Paris, Gallimard, 2000, in-8. Limited to 90 copies on Lana vellum paper.
• L’Africain. Roman. Paris, Mercure de France, 2004, in-12. Limited to 110 copies on vellum paper.
  
• Ourania. Paris, N.R.F., 2006, in-8. Limited to 130 copies on vellum paper.
• Ballaciner. Paris, N.R.F., 2007, in-8. Limited to 60 copies on vellum paper.

Autumnal list

The Librairie Loliée presents a varia list of 19th and 20th centuries first editions and illustrated books.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you wish to reserve a number.

Death on the Installment Plan, in its unexpurgated version

Céline begins to write in 1932 Death on the Installment Plan, his second and autobiographical novel. But the book is not published by Denoël until 1936. The redaction is laborious. After Journey to the End of The Night, Céline cleans his style, focuses on rhythm. He describes, in a chaotic and burlesque tone, his childhood memories in a family torn apart. The violence of the book pushes Denoël to released a bowdlerized version, without the passages judged detrimental for decency. Only the edition "off trade", a total of 117 copies, provides the full text. The release of the novel is not successful and is even criticized by supporters of Journey to the End of The Night.
Yet it is with Death on the Installment Plan that borns this special and typical technique of the author, made up of short sentences, where punctuation, between exclamation and suspension, give the pace.

(source : wikipedia.fr)

Currently , The Librairie Loliée offers :

• Céline (Louis-Ferdinand). Mort à crédit (Death on the Installment Plan). Paris, Denoël et Steele, 1936, in-8, bounded in a full purple levant (Huser). One of the 22 first copies, off trade, on Japan paper. This copy contains an autograph page of the novel's manuscript, with erasures and corrections.

Alain Jacquet and fragmentation

"... the point for Jacquet is not at all the geometrical or Euclidean phenomenon, that is to say the intersection of two lines, with the limited side it can involved, but is just the possibility of all fragments, from the basic element which itself is fragmented by nature, and I think that is rather capital. "

Pierre Restany, 31 March 1971 (excerpt from an interview recorded at the Galerie Bonnier).

The work of Alain Jacquet, who died in September, is focused on the concept of fragmentation, of point and reflects the plastic and aesthetic innovations of contemporary art (serigraphs, camouflage paintings as the famous reinterpretation of Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe de Manet) .

See the tribute to the artist written by his friend Catherine Millet.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers:

• JACQUET (Alain). Silver Marble. Genève, Galerie Bonnier, 1971, in-folio, in leaves, silvered paper cardboard. First edition of this portfolio including 4 original serigraphs by Alain Jacquet and publsihed for the execution of "the Siver Marble : the Geneva Project", a canvas of 144 square meters installed on the facade of a building in Geneva.

Suares, an author in the shadow

Admired by his peers André Gide, Paul Valery and Paul Claudel, with whom he founded the Nouvelle Revue Française, influential model for Alain-Fournier or Stefan Zweig, Suarès remained in the shadow of his contemporaries despite a provided work. Were published not less than eighty books during his lifetime and thirty posthumous works. Collection of poems (Airs, Bouclier du Zodiaque), biographies devoted, among others, to Tolstoy, Ibsen, Baudelaire, Napoleon, travel journals including Le Voyage du Condottiere, essential reference on Italy, studies on great musicians as Bach, Wagner and Debussy, tragedies inspired by ancient authors, thoughts and aphorisms as Voici l'Homme, pamphlets with Vues d'Europe in which he denounced in 1933 the dangers of Nazism ...
Suarès is a prolific author who has dealt with disparate areas. Perhaps it is this variety which has troubled his image among the general public and impaired a visibility he deserves.
(sources : wikipedia, msn encarta).

"Suarès died destitute and forgotten, after writing on Retz, Tolstoy, Napoleon, in a incomparable way, which proves a breathing equal to that of genius".
Roger Nimier in L'élève d'Aristote (Paris, Gallimard, 1981)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :
- Suarès(André). Airs. V livres de poèmes. Paris, Mercure de France, 1900, in-12. First Edition.
- Suarès(André). Lais et Sônes. Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Occident, 1909, in-12.
First Edition. One of the 133 copies on Arches paper.
- Suarès(André). Xénies. Paris, Émile-Paul Frères, 1923, in-12.
First Edition. One of the 15 copies on Japan paper.
- Suarès(André). Poète tragique. Paris, Émile-Paul Frères, 1923, in-12.
First Edition. Copy on Lafuma paper with a hand-written dedication.
Essay on Shakespeare's Prospero.
- Suarès(André). Présences. Paris, Emile-Paul Frères, 1926, in-12, bounded. First Edition. One of the 100 copies on Dutch paper.

Annual closing

Dear readers,
The bookshop will be closed from July, 26 to August, 18.
See you for the reopening.

The Interpretation of Le Rêve by Carlos Schwabe

Carlos Schwabe, German naturalized Switzerland, is an autodidact who, for any artistic training, has followed the school of Industrial Arts in Geneva where he learned to draw. Installed in France in 1884 where he remained until his death in 1926, Schwabe pass through the last part of the 19th century under the influence of symbolism. He works with the Sâr Peladan, an occult writer and founder of the aesthetic Rosicrucian, a movement close to the symbolism and esotericism, whose religious and social concerns correspond to his own questions. Of great sensitivity, Schwabe is an idealist whose perfectionism makes him an appreciated illustrator. His interpretation of Le Rêve, whom the first illustrated edition is published in 1892 by Flammarion, enriches the work of Zola with Japanese art and Pre-Raphaelites influences and gives the work a visionary and mystical dimension. Schwabe, busy preparing the fair of the Rosicrucians, left the achievement of 6 compositions to Lucien Métivet, who is known for his humorous cartoons.
(source : wikipedia.org)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Schwabe (Carlos) – Zola (Emile). Le Rêve. Paris, Flammarion, s.d. [1892], in-4, bounded with two plexiglas plates which offer the original cover to vision without damage. First illustrated with 26 full-page compositions by Carlos Schwabe and 6 compositions by Lucien Métivet. One of the 30 first copies on Japan paper, signed by the editor.

Picasso's comic book

"cries of children cries of women cries of birds cries of flowers cries of timbers and of stones cries of bricks cries of furniture of bed of chairs of curtains of pots of cats and of papers cries of odors which claw at one another cries of smoke pricking the shoulder of the cries which stew in the cauldron and of the rain of birds which inundates the sea which gnaws the bone and breaks its teeth biting the cotton wool which the sun mops up from the plate which the purse and the pocket hide in the print which the foot leaves in the rock. "

Picasso - quote from Dreams And Lies Of Franco

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• PICASSO (Pablo) . Sueno y Mentira de Franco. S.l. (Paris), s.é (chez l’auteur), s.d. (1937), in-folio, in leaves, cover. Text by Picasso in French, English and Spanish reproduce in facsimile, illustrated by 18 original engravings by Picasso, in 2 boards each including 9 engravings. Stamp signed by Picasso. One of the 850 copies on Montval laid paper. Picasso made this comic book of 18 scenes to protest against General Franco's coup d’etat.